Police Constable, 30 year old Burton Caliz, was charged initially with murder but was found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of Leroy Pilgrim on San Pedro. Now on retrial after more than 7 years, Burton Caliz’s trial came to a close on Tuesday. At 12:33 p.m., Tuesday afternoon, a jury of 7 women and 2 men stepped into the deliberating room to decide the fate of the interdicted cop.

But at 3:50 Tuesday evening, when the jury first knocked on the door that they were ready, their verdict was not complete. While they found him not guilty of manslaughter, they were hung on a verdict for manslaughter by negligence as their verdict was neither 8/1 or 7/2. Since it was below 7/2, Judge Gonzalez asked them to return to the deliberating room to see if they could reach a verdict for the alternative charge.

They did, and at 4:27 p.m., they returned again and announced that the interdicted cop was guilty of manslaughter by negligence at a proportion of 7/2. At least 2 persons thought he was not guilty.

Burton Caliz is out on a reduced bail of $4,000 which was granted to him by Justice Gonzalez. Sentencing is set for next week Thursday, October 10, where mitigation plea will be heard on his behalf. His attorney, Dickie Bradley has indicated to the court that they will appeal today’s verdict.

PC Caliz was initially charged with manslaughter back in March 2004, but on indictment on June 21, 2005, he saw the charge upgraded from manslaughter to murder and his $8,000 bail was revoked and he was remanded to prison. He was later tried but found guilty of manslaughter instead of murder and on March 21, 2007, he was sentenced to 10 years. That conviction would later be overturned by the court of appeal and set aside and a retrial ordered. Leroy Pilgrim was shot once to the back of his head. Police claimed that Leroy Pilgrim had a gun and struggled with PC Caliz and that the gun went off, killing him.

Cop found guilty of killing a man

On Monday, September 30th, a jury of 7 women and 2 men found police constable, Burton Caliz, guilty of manslaughter by negligence. They had deliberated on and had found him not guilty of manslaughter however they found him guilty of the alternate charge of manslaughter by negligence.

Burton Caliz is out on a reduced bail of $4,000 which was granted to him by Justice Gonzalez. Sentencing is set for Thursday, October 10, 2013 at 9:15 a.m., when mitigation pleas will be heard on his behalf.
PC Caliz's trial began on September 18, before Justice Troadio John Gonzalez in the Belize City Supreme Court.

Caliz is a police officer who has been on interdiction since Februray 12th, 2004 when he was charged for the killing of Leroy Pilgrim on the island of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. He was initially charged with manslaughter back in March 2004, but on indictment on June 21, 2005, he saw the charge upgraded to murder and his $8,000 bail granted to him by the court was revoked. He was then remanded to prison. He was later tried and found guilty of manslaughter on March 21, 2007 and was sentenced to 10 years. That conviction would later be overturned by the court of appeal and a retrial was ordered.

Pilgrim was shot and killed by Caliz while he was on duty. Police claimed that the decease had a gun and struggled with PC Caliz during which time he was shot to the back of the head. At the time of the incident, PC Caliz was armed with a firearm, a service issued .38 that belonged to another police officer, Cpl. Vidal Cajun.

In court Sanjay Pilgrim, brother of the decease, testified that on the day of the killing at about 10:00 p.m., he and his brother, Leroy, were in the San Juan area of San Pedro. He was inside a boat having just come on land to dock. Two police officers, Cpl. Vidal Cajun and PC Burton Caliz, arrived shortly thereafter in separate gulf carts. According to Sanjay, both officers approached his brother and searched him. Cpl. Cajun then went to the boat where he was and spotted a flashlight on him. A third man who was also in the boat and identified only as "Sugar" jumped out of the boat into the lagoon. According to Sanjay, PC Caliz then took his brother, Leroy towards the water's edge and placed a firearm to his head. He then pushed Leroy into the water and shot him once to the back of the head.

In his dock statement, PC Burton Caliz, who was represented by Attorney Dickie Bradley, told the court that, “after Cpl. Cajun finish search Leroy Pilgrim, Cajun left Leroy in my custody and went to the water edge with his flashlight, where he spotted Sanjay Pilgrim and searched him. Then PC Cajun called out for me to bring Leroy Pilgrim to the water edge and keep the two and continued with his search and that’s when Cpl. Cajun found a 9 mm firearm. I then advised Cpl. Cajun to be on the alert. According to PC Caliz, that’s when Cpl. Cajun gave him his police issued service revolver, a .38 firearm, because according Leroy Pilgrim began to behave in an aggressive manner shouting out, “The gun is not for me. Uno nuh wah plant it on me. Uno done search me ah nuh find nothing.”

According to PC Caliz, that’s when he held on to Leroy Pilgrim's shirt and he had the service revolver that Cpl. Cajun had given him in his hand when Leroy Pilgrim pulled him into the water. Both of them fell into the water during which they became invovled in a struggle and the firearm went off.

During the trial, the prosecutor, Leeroy Banner, was unable to produce any gun in question.

On the night in question, Cpl. Vidal Cajun and PC Burton Caliz were investigating the theft of a golf cart.
Caliz was only 19 when he was first charged with murder. He served a total of 3 years behind bars. 1 ½ years when he was first charged and then another 1 ½ years after he was found guilty of manslaughter before he won his appeal.

Police Constable Gets Fined For Manslaughter by Negligence

On September 30 a jury of nine found 30-year-old interdicted police Officer Burton Caliz guilty of manslaughter by negligence in the shooting death of San Pedro resident Leroy Pilgrim.

Today Justice Troadio Gonzalez fined him three thousand dollars instead of imposing a custodial sentence. Caliz was ordered to pay the fine by January 24, 2014. Before handing down his sentence, Justice Gonzalez told PC Caliz that he recommends that he re-apply for his job as a police officer and that he should be favourably considered. He told him that in his view, he could not impose a custodial sentence.

On February 12, 2004, Police Constable Caliz shot and killed a man in the line of duty. PC Caliz claimed that Pilgrim had a gun and they were involved in a struggle when his gun went off accidentally. PC Caliz was initially charged with manslaughter then later that charge was upgraded to murder. He served 14 months in prison. He was tried and found guilty of manslaughter back in 2005 and sentenced to 10 years. Upon appeal he saw his conviction and sentence quashed by the judges of the court of appeal and a retrial was ordered.

Killer Cop Caliz Fined, Not Confined

Tonight, Police Officer Burton Caliz Jr., who was convicted of manslaughter for the February 2004 shooting death of 23 year-old Leroy Pilgrim, is spending his third night a free man after his mitigation hearing, which ended with a fine instead of a prison sentence.
As we told you, Caliz was initially charged with murder, but it was reduced to manslaughter, for which he was convicted in January 2007. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but he appealed and won after serving only 1 year and 2 months.

He was convicted of manslaughter but he appealed his conviction and won after serving 1 and a half years of his 10-year sentence.
He stood trial a second time before Justice Troadio Gonzalez in September of this year, and he was once again found guilty, but this time of manslaughter by negligence.

His trial has been a particularly high-profile case because the issue came up that a police officer used unjustified deadly force against a civilian, and on Friday, more than 9 and a half years later, Caliz escaped extended jail time.

It came after a mitigation hearing held on Thursday, in which he called character witnesses in his favour. His attorney, Dickie Bradley, submitted that the court had to take into consideration that Caliz has already served time in prison. This is, Bradley added, was in accordance with findings from the Caribbean Court of Justice.

After considering all the evidence put forward before him, Justice Gonzalez ruled that Caliz will pay a 3 thousand-dollar fine. More than that, Justice Gonzalez recommended that Caliz - who had allegations inappropriate behaviour while in authority - should reapply for his job as police officer.

Caliz must pay this fine by January 2014.

So, with that, a case which stirred great unrest among the public, goes away quietly.

[size:14pt]Former Policeman Wins Murder Appeal and Walks Free[/size]
An appeal by Burton Caliz, a former police officer who was convicted of manslaughter, was allowed today by Belize court of Appeal. Caliz’ conviction was quashed, his sentence was set aside and he was acquitted. Initially, Caliz was charged with the murder of 23 year old Leroy Pilgrim, who was shot and killed in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye in February 2004. The murder charge was reduced to manslaughter and Caliz was convicted of manslaughter in January 2007 and he was sentenced to 10 years. Caliz appealed and he won his appeal and a retrial was ordered. At the retrial he was convicted of manslaughter and he was ordered to pay a fine of three thousand dollars by Justice John Gonzalez. Caliz was not represented by any attorney at today’s appeal hearing. Crown Counsel Linsbert Willis represented the respondent.
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What kind of judge would recommend he reapply for a job as a police offer and should be given favorable consideration. The more of this stuff I read the more it makes me not want to return to San Pedro. Crooked cops and a court system that protects them.